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Many early New York tax lists, including burgher and freemen lists, exist back to about 1675. Tax records can substitute for census records as tools to locate where a family lived. The Family History Library has tax lists from the early 1700s for Dutchess County, New York City, and some other areas. The state archives has tax lists for the 1770s and 1780s, and Tax Assessment Rolls of Real Estate and Personal Estates for 1799–1804. These are based on the Federal Direct Tax of 1798 and list all males over the age of 21. They are arranged by county, year, and town and are based on the Federal Direct Tax of 1798. They list all males over the age of 21. Tax lists from about 1850–1870 are filed in town clerk and county treasurers' offices, but they are not available on microfilm. The New York 1798 direct tax lists have not been located.

There are New York City Assessment Rolls from 1699 to 1734. These can be found in the NYGBS Collection held at the New York Public Library, as well as in the Family History Library's Film 484033. There are also select assessments available online at FHL. These assessment rolls are a great finding aid to locate someone that was a city resident and finding the ward they belonged to, and includes renters and owners. There is a break in the years from 1710 to 1720. The rolls from 1721 to 1734 include Queens, Richmond, and Westchester. [1]

Some tax lists for the 1700s have been published in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Some early New York City lists are in New York Historical Society, Tax Lists of the City of New York, December 1695 to July 15, 1699, in the series Collections of the New York Historical Society, Volume 43–44 (New York, New York: The New-York Historical Society, 1911–12.) FHL Film 845302 item 3–4 and FHL Book 974.7 B4n v. 43–44.

The National Archives Northeast Region (Boston) has assessment lists for New York, 1862–1917. These lists generally contain the names of the taxpayers (individuals and corporations), city of residence, articles or occupations taxed, and the amounts assessed and collected. The taxes during the Civil War were gradually abolished until only taxes on liquor and tobacco remained in 1883. Corporate income taxes began in 1909. A draft inventory of these records is available on microfiche from the archives.

Web Sites

The NYGB Newsletter and The New York Researcher Select “Research Aid Articles” from The NYGB Newsletter and The New York Researcher are available to members of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society on the Society’s Website. Many of these articles have been updated since their original publication in the paper newsletter.

For Further Reading

Dollarhide, William and Gordon Lewis Remington. New York State Censuses and Substitutes: An Annotated Bibliography of State Censuses, Census Substitutes, and Selected Name Lists in Print, on Microform, or Online; with County Boundary Maps, 1683-1915; and State Census Examples and Extraction Forms, 1825-1925, (Bountiful, Utah: Heritage Creations, 2005) - a county by county listing citing many tax lists that are hidden in books and periodicals. At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 974.7 X23d.